Indicia reader having unitary-construction

ABSTRACT

A hand-held indicia-reading device includes a housing and a cable having a unitary-construction. The indicia-reader has a head portion with an indicia-reading system including a printed circuit board. The entire handle portion of the reader is typically over-molded onto a host-connector cable. The host-connector cable includes a circuit board connector on one end and a connector for connecting to a host at an opposite end extending from a base portion of the handle.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/185,476 for an Indicia-Reader Having Unitary-Construction filed Jun. 17, 2016 (and published Oct. 6, 2016 as U.S. Patent Publication No. 2016/0292479), now U.S. Pat. No. 9,697,403, which claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/150,393 for an Indicia-Reader Having Unitary-Construction filed Jan. 8, 2014 (and published Jul. 9, 2015 as U.S. Patent Publication No. 2015/0193645), now U.S. Pat. No. 9,373,018. Each of the foregoing patent applications, patent publications, and patents is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of indicia-readers and, more specifically, to hand-held indicia-readers having a unibody handle that surrounds an integrated cable.

BACKGROUND

Hand-held indicia-reading devices such as hand-held mobile computers and bar code scanners are used in numerous environments for various applications (e.g., hospitals, warehouses, delivery vehicles, etc.). For example, a large percentage of retailers, notably grocery stores and general consumer merchandisers, rely on barcode technology to improve the efficiency and reliability of the checkout process.

Many kinds of hand-held indicia-reading devices utilize a traditional gun-shaped design (e.g., form factor). During the retail checkout process, for instance, a gun-style hand-held indicia-reader is generally used by the cashier to provide additional flexibility (e.g., for coupon checking, loyalty card scanning, or shopping cart scanning). The gun-shaped form factor provides an indicia-reader that is easy to handle and use for intensive hand-held scanning.

One of the design challenges of hand-held indicia-readers, including those having a traditional gun-shaped form factor, is that the reader's shape does not lend itself to easily placing all electronics, including connectors, onto a single printed circuit board (PCB). This is because the scanning electronics typically reside in the top portion of the indicia-reader (i.e., the head) while the host connection point is generally located at the bottom of the handle. Accordingly, this kind of design often requires the use of an internal cable that electrically connects the host connector to the PCB containing the electronics.

The requirement of an internal cable to electrically connect the host connector to the PCB results in a number of disadvantages. For instance, the addition of the internal cable adds to the overall cost of the indicia-reader. The internal cable also provides a potential failure point during the life of the product.

Furthermore, the handle of a traditional hand-held indicia-reader is typically a complicated mechanical part that has both plastic and rubber individual components that must be assembled. These individual mechanical parts increase costs associated with designing and manufacturing the indicia-reader. As one example, a mechanical part at the host connection point (i.e., a handle's end cap) is often required to complete the handle assembly.

Manufacturing the handle may also require more complex tooling including a secondary over-mold process. These additional steps likewise increase costs.

Moreover, because host cable may be subjected to high instances of flexing, the cable typically requires a strain relief at the base of the handle.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, in one aspect, the present invention embraces an indicia-reading device that can include an indicia-capturing subsystem for acquiring information about indicia within the indicia-capturing subsystem's field of view and an indicia-decoding subsystem configured for decoding indicia information acquired by the indicia-capturing subsystem. The indicia-reading device can also include a hand-supportable housing having a head portion and an adjacent handle portion, wherein (i) the head portion substantially encloses the indicia-capturing subsystem and the indicia-decoding subsystem, and (ii) the handle is formed as a unitary-construction.

In an exemplary embodiment, the indicia-reading device may include a host-connector cable, the host-connector cable being integrated into and surrounded by the hand-supportable housing's unitary-construction handle.

In another exemplary embodiment, the host-connector cable can have a first end connector at an upper portion of the handle and a second end connector at a base portion of the handle.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the indicia-capturing subsystem can include a printed circuit board operatively connected to electro-optical components.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the first end connector can be operatively connected to the printed circuit board.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the second end connector can be operatively connected to a host.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the host can be a computer.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the hand-supportable housing's head portion can be removably connected to the hand-supportable housing's unitary-construction handle.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the hand-supportable housing's unitary-construction handle can be an injection-molded handle.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the hand-supportable housing's unitary-construction handle can be a blow-molded handle.

In another aspect, the present invention embraces an indicia-reading device that can include a hand-supportable housing. The hand-supportable housing can include a head portion and an adjacent handle portion. The head portion at least partially encloses an indicia-capturing system. The indicia-capturing system can include (i) an indicia-capturing subsystem for acquiring information about indicia within the indicia-capturing subsystem's field of view, and (ii) an indicia-decoding subsystem configured for decoding indicia information acquired by the indicia-capturing subsystem. The handle portion can physically integrate a host connector cable forming a single part.

In an exemplary embodiment, the host-connector cable can have a first end connector at an upper portion of the handle and a second end connector at a base portion of the handle.

In another exemplary embodiment, the indicia-capturing system can include a printed circuit board operatively connected to electro-optical components

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the first end connector can be operatively connected to the printed circuit board.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the second end connector can be operatively connected to a host.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the host can be a handheld computer.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the head portion can be removably attached to the handle portion.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, the head portion can be removably attached to the handle portion by fasteners.

In another aspect, the present invention embraces a method for reading indicia. The method can include providing an indicia-reading device that includes (i) an indicia-capturing subsystem for acquiring information about indicia within the indicia-capturing subsystem's field of view, (ii) an indicia-decoding subsystem configured for decoding indicia information acquired by the indicia-capturing subsystem, (iii) a hand-supportable housing having a head portion and an adjacent handle portion, wherein the head portion substantially encloses the indicia-capturing subsystem and the indicia-decoding subsystem and the handle is formed as a unitary-construction, and (iv) a host-connector cable, the host-connector cable being integrated into and surrounded by the hand-supportable housing's unitary-construction handle. The method can further include operatively connecting the host-connector cable to a host and using the indicia-reading device to acquire indicia information.

In an exemplary embodiment, the method for reading indicia can further include communicating the indicia information from the indicia-reading device to the host via the host-connector cable.

The foregoing illustrative summary, as well as other exemplary objectives and/or advantages of the invention, and the manner in which the same are accomplished, are further explained within the following detailed description and its accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a perspective view of a typical hand-held indicia-reader.

FIG. 2 depicts a perspective exploded view of a typical hand-held indicia-reader.

FIG. 3 depicts the handle portion of an exemplary hand-held indicia-reader according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 depicts an exploded view of an exemplary hand-held indicia-reader according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention embraces indicia-readers. In particular, the present invention embraces hand-held indicia-readers having a unibody handle (i.e., the handle is formed as a unitary-construction).

The term indicia as used herein is intended to refer broadly to various types of machine-readable indicia, including barcodes, QR codes, matrix codes, 1D codes, 2D codes, RFID tags, characters, etc. The indicia are typically graphical representations of information (e.g., data) such as product numbers, package tracking numbers, or personnel identification numbers. The use of indicia-readers to input data into a system, rather than manual data entry, results in generally faster and more reliable data entry.

One exemplary type of hand-held indicia-reader that can include a housing that is directly integrated with a cable is a gun-style hand-held indicia-reader. References herein to particular kinds of devices or device environments, however, are not intended to limit the disclosure to particular devices, and those having ordinary skill in the art will recognize that a number of different devices might be employed.

The exemplary hand-held indicia-readers of the present invention provide manufacturing efficiencies and cost savings by eliminating the need for many individual mechanical parts that are typically required when manufacturing indicia-reader housings. The resulting hand-held indicia-readers are simpler and less expensive to make. These advantages are illustrated (below) in comparing a typical hand-held indicia-reader (FIGS. 1 and 2) with an exemplary hand-held indicia-reader of the present invention (FIGS. 3 and 4).

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 depicts a typical hand-held indicia-reader (i.e., a hand-held scanner). Specifically, FIG. 1 depicts a typical gun-style hand-held indicia-reader 100. The indicia-reader 100 includes a hand-supportable housing 102 having a handle portion 102A.

The hand-held scanner's housing 102 has a head portion 102B that includes a light transmission window 103 within the housing's head portion 102B.

An indicia-reading system 107 may be enclosed within the head portion 102B. In some instances, the indicia-reading system 107 may include laser scanning subsystems (i.e., indicia-capturing subsystems) that sweep light beams (e.g., a laser beam) across a scan path (i.e., a field of view) and then receive the optical signals that reflect or scatter off the indicium. Typically, the optical signal is received using a photoreceptor (i.e., photodiode) and is converted into an electrical signal. The electrical signal is an electronic representation of the indicia information (e.g., the data represented by the indicia). When in the form of an electrical signal, this information can be processed (i.e., decoded) by an indicia-decoding subsystem.

In other instances, the indicia-reading system 107 may include imaging subsystems or some combination of imaging subsystems and laser scanning subsystems (i.e., indicia-capturing subsystems). The imaging subsystem captures digital images of objects within the subsystem's field of view. When the indicia information takes the form of a digital image, the indicia information is typically processed by an indicia-decoding subsystem through the use of image-processing software (e.g., optical character recognition (OCR) technology), which can both identify the presence of indicia in the digital image and decode the indicia.

A manually actuated trigger switch 104 may be depressed to activate the indicia-reading system 107 (i.e., the scanning module).

The base structure 102C of the hand-held scanner's housing may include a cable strain relief 109 and an external host connector cable 105B. The external host connector cable 105B (e.g., a USB cable) can be used as a bus for connection, communication, and power supply between the reader 100 and a host 115 (e.g., a computer).

FIG. 2 depicts an exploded view of a typical gun-style indicia-reader 100. The hand-supportable housing 102 includes left and right handle halves 102A1 and 102A2; a foot-like end-cap structure 102C1 that is mounted between the handle halves 102A1 and 102A2; a trigger switch 104 that snap fits within and pivots within a pair of spaced apart apertures provided in the housing halves; a light transmission window panel 103A through which light transmission window 103 is formed and supported within a recess formed by handle halves 102A1 and 102A2; and a top head portion 102B1 enclosing the head portion 102B of the housing.

The head portion 102B of the housing includes a printed circuit board (PCB) 106 operatively connected to the electro-optical components of indicia-reading system 107.

An internal host-connector cable 105A attaches to the reader 100 via a host connector (i.e., a flexible printed circuit) that connects to the PCB 106. When the gun-style reader 100 is assembled, the internal host-connector cable 105A exits through base cap 102C1. A strain relief 109 for the cable is provided where the internal host-connector cable 105A transitions to an external host-connector cable 105B. Strain relief 109 is typically necessary because the region of the cable exiting the base cap 102C is often subject to high instances of flexing. The host-connector cable 105B can be used for communicating with a host 115 (e.g., a computer) and for supplying power.

In contrast with the typical hand-held indicia-reader shown at FIGS. 1 and 2, an exemplary hand-held indicia-reader 200 of the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. As depicted in FIG. 3, the handle portion 202A of the hand-held indicia-reader 200 has a unitary-construction (i.e., a unibody formed handle), typically over-molded onto the host-connector cable 205 (e.g., a USB cable) by an injection molding process (i.e., a process where one material is molded onto another material). Other processes for forming the unibody handle may also be used (e.g., blow-molding). The cable 205 includes a PCB connector 208 and a connector 209 for connecting to a host (e.g., a computer).

The trigger 204, shown with the handle portion 202A in FIG. 3, may be a separate component from the handle portion 202A. The trigger 204 may be affixed to the handle portion 202A by installing the trigger 204 from the top side of the cable-integrated handle 202A.

The exemplary handle portion 202A has the advantage of significantly reducing the number of parts used in the typical reader assembly 100 as illustrated in FIG. 2. Accordingly, both part costs and manufacturing time are reduced. An additional benefit of cable-integrated handle 202A is a reduced risk that the internal cable will fail during the life of the indicia-reader.

FIG. 4 depicts an exploded view of an exemplary hand-held indicia-reader 200 according to the present invention. When assembled, the exemplary indicia-reader 200 resembles the typical gun-style reader 100 of FIG. 1.

Hand-held reader 200 includes a head portion 202B having a light transmission window 203. An indicia-reading system 207 is enclosed within the head portion 202B. Indicia-reading system 207 may be implemented as described with reference to indicia-reading system 107. Moreover, head portion 202B includes a printed circuit board (PCB) 206 operatively connected to the electro-optical components of indicia-reading system 207.

The head portion 202B may be designed as an assembly that can be removably attached to the handle portion 202A by fasteners 210 (e.g., threaded fasteners, clamps, clips, pins, etc.). In this regard, the handle 202A and trigger 204 portions may attach to the head portion 202B by way of a mating mechanism for any number of scanner head types having various functionalities (e.g., 2D, laser, linear imager, long range, DPM, etc.). Therefore, a user wishing to switch scanner types could choose the appropriate head device for the desired purpose rather than choosing another complete indicia-reader.

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In the specification and/or figures, typical embodiments and environments of the invention have been disclosed. The present invention is not limited to such exemplary embodiments. The use of the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. The figures are schematic representations and so are not necessarily drawn to scale. Unless otherwise noted, specific terms have been used in a generic and descriptive sense and not for purposes of limitation. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. An indicia-reading device, comprising: one or more interchangeable scanning heads; a handle removably attached to at least one of the scanning heads via a mating mechanism; wherein the handle physically integrates and surrounds a portion of a host-connector cable forming a single part, the host-connector cable having at least one connector end; and wherein the at least one connector end of the host-connector cable extends from an upper portion of the handle.
 2. The indicia-reading device according to claim 1, wherein the host-connector cable has a first end connector at an upper portion of the handle and a second end connector at a base portion of the handle.
 3. The indicia-reading device according to claim 1, further comprising an indicia-capturing system comprising a printed circuit board operatively connected to electro-optical components.
 4. The indicia-reading device according to claim 2, wherein the first end connector is operatively connected to the printed circuit board.
 5. The indicia-reading device according to claim 2, wherein the second end connector is operatively connected to a host.
 6. The indicia-reading device according to claim 5, wherein the host is a computer.
 7. The indicia-reading device according to claim 1, wherein the handle is attached to the at least one scanning head via a mating mechanism, wherein the mating mechanism comprises fasteners, threaded fasteners, clamps, clips, and/or pins.
 8. The indicia-reading device according to claim 3, wherein the indicia-capturing subsystem comprises a laser-scanning subsystem and/or an imaging subsystem.
 9. A method of manufacturing an indicia-reading device, comprising: forming a handle portion as a unitary-construction, wherein the handle integrates and surrounds a portion of a host-connector cable such that at least one connector end of the host-connector cable extends from an upper portion of the handle; and attaching one of a plurality of interchangeable scanning heads to the handle portion via a mating mechanism.
 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the handle portion is formed by over-molding the handle portion onto the portion of the host-connector cable.
 11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the handle portion is injection-molded onto the portion of the host-connector cable.
 12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the handle portion is blow-molded onto the portion of the host-connector cable.
 13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the mating mechanism comprises fasteners, threaded fasteners, clamps, clips, and/or pins.
 14. The method according to claim 9, further comprising attaching a first end connector to a first end of the host-connector cable at an upper portion of the handle and a second end connector to a second end of the host-connector cable at a base portion of the handle.
 15. The method according to claim 9, further comprising providing a print circuit board (PCB) in the scanning head and operatively connecting the PCB to electro-optical components.
 16. The method according to claim 14, further comprising operatively connecting the first end connector to a printed circuit board.
 17. The method according to claim 14, further comprising operatively connecting the second end connector to a host.
 18. The method according to claim 9, further comprising: providing, within the scanning head, an indicia-capturing subsystem for acquiring information about indicia within the indicia-capturing subsystem's field of view; and providing, within the scanning head, an indicia-decoding subsystem configured for decoding indicia information acquired by the indicia-capturing subsystem.
 19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the indicia-capturing subsystem comprises a laser-scanning subsystem and/or an imaging subsystem.
 20. A method for reading indicia, comprising: selecting a scanning head from a plurality of interchangeable scanning heads; attaching the scanning head to a handle portion of an indicia-reading device, wherein the handle is formed as a unitary-construction that integrates and surrounds a portion of a host-connector cable having at least one connector end, and the at least one connector end extending from the handle; operatively connecting the host-connector cable to a host; and using the indicia-reading device to acquire indicia information. 